Method of and apparatus for spinning and treating thread

ABSTRACT

A THREAD IS DRAWN AXIALLY OFF A RELATIVELY NONROTATABLE SPOOL AND GUIDED THROUGH THE CENTER OF THE SPOOL WHICH IS EQUIPPED WITH A LIGHT FRICTION BRAKE FOR THE THREAD. ON LEAVING THE SPOOL THE THREAD IS FED THROUGH A LATERAL HOLE IN A ROTATING HOLLOW SHAFT AND ONTO A ROTATING DISK MOUNTED ON THE SHAFT. A JET OF TREATING LIQUID IS PULSED AGAINST THIS DISK TO SOAK THE THRAD MOVING RADIALLY OUTWARD THEREON. THEN THE THREAD IS DRAWN UP BETWEEN A SLEEVE SURROUNDING THE SPOOL AND THE SPOOL ITSELF AND WOUND ON A BOBBIN OR YARN PACKAGE.

Feb. 16, 1971 GREWE ETAL 3,563,019

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR SPINNING AND TREATING THREAD Filed March 26,1969 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I60 BRAKE ALOYS GREIVE ALOYS TREUS INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY Feb. 16, 1971 V GREWE ETAL 3,563,019

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR SPINNING AND TREATING THREAD File-1 March26, 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 BRAKE ALOYS GREIVE 2o J ALO YS TREUS INVENTOR.

BY may To ATTORNEY United States Patent Olfice 3,563,019 Patented Feb.16, 1971 3,563,019 METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR SPINNING AND TREATINGTHREAD Aloys Greive, Munster, Westphalia, and Aloys Treus, Havixbeck,Westphalia, Germany, assignors to Hamel G.m.b.H., Zwirnerei-undSpinnereimaschinen, Munster, Westphalia, Germany, a corporation ofGermany Filed Mar. 26, 1969, Ser. No. 810,464 Claims priority,application Germany, Mar. 28, 1968, P 17 60 063.4 Int. Cl. D01k 7/86,13/30 US. Cl. 57-35 12 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A thread isdrawn axially olf a relatively nonrotatable spool and guided through thecenter of the spool which is equipped with a light friction brake forthe thread. On leaving the spool the thread is fed through a lateralhole in a rotating hollow shaft and onto a rotating disk mounted on theshaft. A jet of treating liquid is pulsed against this disk to soak thethread moving radially outward thereon. Then the thread is drawn upbetween a sleeve surrounding the spool and the spool itself and wound ona bobbin or yarn package.

Our present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus forspinning and treating thread or yarn.

In commonly assigned application Ser. No. 705,360, filed Feb. 14, 1968,now Pat. No. 3,158,983, by Edmund Hamel, there is disclosed a processwherein thread is made to pass through a trough or bath of a treatmentliquid prior to being wound on a spool or bobbin.

In most treatment systems wherein a liquid bath is used to treat thethread, however, the thread tends to dry out when wound from this spoolor bobbin onto another spool or bobbin, on account of the centrifugalforce generated as it is payed off the feed package and twisted at highspeeds.

It has further been proposed to direct a jet of a liquid or vapor at thethread where it unwinds from the spool. Once again, the thread tends todry because of the centrifugal force and cannot be effectively wetted onthe side inwardly of the balloon it forms on unwinding.

Another suggestion has been to spray the liquid axially through a hollowspool directly at the twisting zone. This, however, can lead to afouling of the device with the liquid. In all cases, even where vapor(e.g. steam) is directed from a nozzle against the yarn package, seriousdifficulties are encountered when a penetrating treatment is desired andthe yarn moves at such high speeds as to dry the treatment liquid beforepenetration is complete.

It is therefore the principal object of the present invention to providean improved method of and an apparatus for spinning and treating threadand yarn.

More specifically, an object of our invention is to provide a method andan apparatus which overcome the abovementioned drawbacks.

We attain these and other objects which will become apparent hereinafterby providing a method of and an apparatus for spinning and soakingthread wherein the thread is axially drawn olf a relatively stationaryor nonrotating spool or yarn package and is then threaded back throughthe center or hollow core of the spool. A light friction-braking deviceof small dimension is provided within the interior of the spool toinsure proper twisting of the thread. The thread is then led through alateral opening in a hollow shaft driving the spinning device onto arotating disk mounted on and driven by the shaft, the disk serving togenerate the usual balloon. The thread is drawn out over this disk,which has a dis-meter in excess of the diameter of the largest spool tobe accommodated, while a spray or jet of treating liquid is directedagainst the disk, preferably close to the point at which the threadleaves the latter, to thoroughly wet and treat the thread. Thence thethread is drawn upwardly between the spool and a sleeve limiting thespread of the balloon.

The spool and the sleeve are substantially nonrotatable while the diskwhirls around at the speed necessary for the desired amount of twist. Ofcourse, the spool could rotate if necessary, but we prefer to providemeans, e.g. magnetic elements, to inhibit this rotation (see US. Pat.No. 2,718,363).

According to a further feature of our invention, the spray from thenozzle is pulsed against the disk at a rate of, for example, one pulseper revolution. In general, however, the interval between pulses of theliquid jet should be equal to a period of rotation or greater to preventexcessive accumulation of liquid on the disk. The upwardly wideningfrustoconical configuration of the downwardly turned treatment surfaceof the disk rotates at a speed which enables it to slough off excessliquid.

By this method the thread is completely wetted with the treating liquid.At the same time this wetting does not interfere with any other stage ofthe normal twisting or spinning operation. None of the extremely messyand irregularly effective prior-art methods are able to treat soeffectively thread with such a nominal amount of treatment liquid.Furthermore, the pulsed operation of the jet which may be co-ordinatedwith the speed of the disk, and the control of the total flow of liquidin accordance with the rate at which the yarn is payed off, allowsconsiderable economy of the treatment agent.

These and other objects, features and advantages will become morereadily apparent from the following description, reference being made tothe accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a vertical section through an apparatus according to ourinvention; and

FIGS. 2 and 3 are sectional views showing details of FIG. 1, drawn to anenlarged scale.

As shown in FIGS. l-S, our apparatus has a nonrotatable disk-shaped base1 bolted to a flange 2 forming an opening 3 through which the rotatableparts of the unit extend, this unit constituting part of a spinningmachine having a number of assemblies of the character described below.Journaled in a bearing 4 is a shaft 6 which rotationally entrains asleeve 7 having a lower portion or collar 5. This collar 5 forms awhirling pulley adapted to be engaged by a belt from a motor 35 to driveshaft 6 along with two disks 8 and 9 connected rotatively entrained byit.

An upper end 10 of the shaft 6 is hollow and formed with a lateralopening 10a, while carrying via ball bearings 11 a spool assemblycomprising an outer sleeve 12a, a bottom plate 12, an inner sleeve 16,and a mandrel 13. A spool :15 of thread 17 with a core 14 fits over thisspool assembly. Magnets 33 (one shown) mounted in the base 1 and-magnets34 (one shown) mounted on the plate 16 inhibit mutual rotation of thebase 1 and the plate 16. These magnets, shown diagrammatically, form amagnetic retaining clutch as described in US. Pat. No. 2,718,- 363.

Sleeve 16 encloses a braking device 18 comprising a spring 19 pressingthe thread 17 inside a sleeve 19a against a seat 20. The tension can beadjusted by raising and lowering a tubular insert 11% above the spring19.

The disk 8 is formed with a radial passage 21 communicating with theopening and has a cylindrical hub 22. Beyond this, the disk 9 has afrustoconical surface 26 over which the thread 17 is intended to run. Ahousing 24 coaxially surrounds the sleeve 12a.

A conduit 27 passes through the base 1 and is provided with a nozzleadapted to spray treating liquid against the surface 26. The nozzle 25is directed at an angle of 70:20" to the surface of the coatingplate 9which rotates at such speed that centrifugal force distributes theliquid uniformly over the surface. A solenoid-actuated valve 28connected to an adjustable pulse generator 29 is supplied treatingliquid from a reservoir 31 through a pump and a restrictor valve 32,which can be so coupled with motor that the volume of treating liquiddelivered at the plate 9 is proportional to the rate of advance of theyarn.

Our apparatus functions as follows:

A core 14 fully wound with string 17 is slipped over the frustoconicalmandrel 13. Then the string 17 is threaded through a rotatable eye 16a,down through the brake device 18, through the opening 10a, out thechannel 21, over the disk surface 26, and up next to the inner sur faceof housing 24 which confines the balloon 23 formed by the revolvingthread.

The free end of the string 17 is attached to some conventional take-updevice, such as a bobbin; then the drive 35 attached to the belt pulley5 is started, as is the pump 30.

As the disks 8 and 9 revolve the string winds around the hub 22 to acertain extentup to 360--and is then pulled off and over the rim of thedownwardly convex underside 26 to form the balloon 23 inside the housing24. This twists the string 17 to an extent determined by the rpm. of theshaft 6 and the amount of braking in the device 18. The pulse generator29 is advantageously set to give one pulse per revolution of the disk 9(or less) and the restrictor valve 32 is also set for an amount of fluidflow sutficient to thoroughly soak the thread 17 without building up anoverflow which would leave through the opening 3.

The improvement described and illustrated is believed to admit of manymodifications within the ability of persons skilled in the art, all suchmodifications being considered within the spirit and scope of theinvention except as limited by the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A method of spinning and treating thread, comprising the steps of:

paying thread off a spool generally along the axis thereof through aspool-supporting tubular upright core; drawing said thread generallyradially outwardly beneath said core; guiding said thread below saidspool along an outwardly rising surface rotating about said axis andthence upwardly in a balloon spinning about the axis; and

directing a jet of treatment fluid substantially at right angles ontosaid rotating surface for interaction with said thread.

2. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein said jet is intermittentlytrained upon said surface.

3. A method as defined in claim 2 wherein said jet is pulsed in stepwith the rotation of said surface.

4. A method of spinning and treating thread, comprising the steps of:

paying a thread Off a spool generally along the axis thereof;

drawing said thread generally radially outwardly from said axis over arotating surface;

intermittently directing a jet of treatment fluid onto said rotatingsurface for interaction with said thread; and

withdrawing said thread from said surface in substantially axialdirection.

5. A method as defined in claim 4, wherein said jet is pulsed at afrequency related to the period of rotation of 10 said surface.

6. A spinning and treating apparatus for thread comprising:

a tubular upright spool support;

a disk adjoining the lower end of said support and centered on the axisthereof, said disk having a downwardly convex underside rising towardits rim;

drive means for rotating said disk about said axis;

guide means for drawing thread from a spool on said support downwardlythrough said support and out said lower end thereof onto the undersideand across the rim of said disk;

a supply of treatment fluid for said thread; and

nozzle means connected to said supply and trained substantiallyperpendicularly upon said underside for directing a jet of said fluidonto said underside and into the path of said thread.

7. An apparatus as defined in claim 6 wherein said supply includespulsing means for periodically interrupting said jet.

8. An apparatus as defined in claim 7 wherein said pulsing means issynchronized with said drive means for generating said jet in step withthe rotation of said disk.

9. An apparatus as defined in claim 6 wherein said disk is provided witha hollow hub accessible from above 35 through said support and providedwith a lateral discharge orifice for said thread substantiall at thelevel of said underside.

10. An apparatus as defined in claim 9 wherein said underside issubstantially frustoconical around said hub.

11. An apparatus as defined in claim 10, further comprising a stationaryhousing spacedly surrounding said disk and said support, said housingand said support being provided with retaining means for holding saidsupport against rotation, said nozzle means being mounted on saidhousing near the rim of said disk.

12. An apparatus as defined in claim 6, further comprising brake meansin said support for tensioning said thread.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,992,259 2/1935 Taylor 57-35UX2,089,194 8/1937 Dreyfus 57 35 3,159,962 12/1964 Franzen 57 35x3,194,000 7/1965 Eldridge et al. 57 35x 3,222,857 12/1965 Keyser 57-353,410,071 11/1968 Heimes 5758.49 3,434,189 3/1969 Buck et al. 2875 60DONALD E. WATKINS, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 57164, 58.49

